Canadian business that have dealings with customers in the U.S. are being advised to pay close attention to changes on the trade front.
The seminar "What’s in it for U.S. eh?" which will be hosted February 28 by the World Trade Centre Winnipeg will look at the uncertainty for Canada's business and trade relations with the United States resulting from the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President.
Derek Earl, the Vice President of the World Trade Centre Winnipeg, notes Canada's economic well being depends on a healthy trade relationship and, with talk of a different tone when it comes to trade, this is of vital concern to Canada.

Clip-Derek Earl-World Trade Centre Winnipeg:
The top issues that are getting a lot of discussion relate to the future of NAFTA, linking Canada, the U.S. and Mexico and ongoing questions of market access.
If there's talk of ending NAFTA, what does that mean for privileged and free trade access we have to the market, so that's a big area.
Some other concerns that tend to be voiced is around the issue of "Buy American" and to what extent this policy might be tightened up on the U.S. side or come back into force which is a policy that favors U.S. suppliers in certain situations or whether that becomes more prevalent as a broader attitude with U.S. buyers or importers.
Other questions such as the Country of Origin Labelling which has affected the ag industry and the pork industry for example and other issues that have always lingered between the two countries like softwood lumber would be other areas where we might expect to see some discussion or some changes around these areas.

Earl says Canadian business that have a U.S. presence need to be paying close attention and for the most part they are because anything that leads to a thickening of the border and any changes to NAFTA that affect tariff levels or costs of doing business in the United States may affect exporters here.
For more on the What’s in it for U.S. eh? seminar or to register visit wtcwinnipeg.com.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.